Plinth heater woes

[Tomo72]

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help.
We have a plinth heater in the kitchen, the only source of heat in there (other than the oven lol) and it's never worked for the 4 years to the day today we've been in the house. Today I decided to take some time and have a look at it.
Electrically it seems fine, it's the plumbing that's at fault. I undid the return pipe and let water flow through it. Initially this was very very black but after a while it cleared and flowed through it fine. I reconnected the return pipe and the water stopped flowing through it. If I undid the valve for the return pipe with it disconnected only drips came out. I'm thinking maybe the return pipe is blocked. Does anyone have any other ideas?
If this pipe is blocked is there an (easy) way to unblock it?

TIA

 

[gigz]

Disconnect it and try connecting it to a hosepipe and blow it out, reverse it as well.

 

[Tomo72]

Disconnect it and try connecting it to a hosepipe and blow it out, reverse it as well.

Hose pipe from cold mains pressure to both the in and out pipes, is that what you mean?
A quick burst?
If it is blocked and I do this where does the crud that's blocked it go?

 

[gigz]

Yeah, the crud should hopefully just blow out the other end if its not too bad.

 

[Tomo72]

Yeah, the crud should hopefully just blow out the other end if its not too bad.

Ah I see what you mean, I think anyway. Water flows through the heater itself fine now though, it's the pipe that goes back to the rest of the heating up the wall.

 

[gigz]

Oh, my bad. Try connecting a hose to this pipe and knocking it, you might dislodge it.

 

[Tomo72]

Oh, my bad. Try connecting a hose to this pipe and knocking it, you might dislodge it.

Thanks gigz, that's what I thought but again, where will the crud from here go?

 

[gigz]

Oh, my bad. Try connecting a hose to this pipe and knocking it, you might dislodge it.

Thanks gigz, that's what I thought but again, where will the crud from here go?

Where ever you put the other end of the hose

 

[Tomo72]

Oh, my bad. Try connecting a hose to this pipe and knocking it, you might dislodge it.

Thanks gigz, that's what I thought but again, where will the crud from here go?

Where ever you put the other end of the hose

Hi, thanks but I don't understand, sorry I'm not a plumber, I'm an electronics engineer lol. So, I connect a hose pipe to mains pressure, say, my washing machine feed, then connect the other end to the pipe thats blocked, the one that connects from the out of the plinth heater and goes back up the wall behind the kitchen cupboards etc. My question is, where will the crud and extra water in this pipe go? Will it go round and in to other heating pipes and radiators?

 

[Madrab]

Yup, it will be blown back into the main CH circuit and end up at the pump/boiler, not what you want.

Only way to deal with the problem is to drain down, trace the pipe back to were it connects into the primary circuit and disconnect, then attach a pipe at that point and try and blow the pipe clear with mains pressure, otherwise you'll need to replace the run.

 

[Tomo72]

Yup, it will be blown back into the main CH circuit and end up at the pump/boiler, not what you want.

Only way to deal with the problem is to drain down, trace the pipe back to were it connects into the primary circuit and disconnect, then attach a pipe at that point and try and blow the pipe clear with mains pressure, otherwise you'll need to replace the run.

Thanks Madrab. Bugger, a lot harder than I thought then :/

 

[Madrab]

Unless you can disconnect the return off from the main CH circuit then it's a difficult DIY fix unfortunately.

 

[Tomo72]

What about fitting some kind of vacuum pump and sucking the blockage out? I'm just thinking out loud here

 

[Madrab]

Do you have a sealed or open vented system?

Doubt a wet vac would sort that out, anyways maybe not the best idea to suck a blockage out of a filled CH system

 

[jeff the gasman]

Take my word for it there is no fix. Replace the flexi connectors with plastic pipe and fittings.
I've done loads of these.